[Benesyed]

Px8 was a good buy in my opinion if you could pick it up for the 550 Price Mark. And that's as a whole package. I'm not sure which sub $200 headphones sound better but there is a domain of lower construction quality is headphones such as the shure aonic that might sound better than the PX8.

Ultimately you have to try it yourself to decide. Without knowing which headphones in particular and not having tried the momentum 4 It's hard for me to judge what resolve is saying from personal experience. What I can do is say that at least to my ears the PX8 were a significant improvement over the PX7 to the point that I would consider them enjoyable to listen to though not ideal from the options available

In particular the way in which they create a sense of with and depth sounds very veiled to my ears. This is less severe than the PX7s which I completely stopped using after I heard the moon drop blessing twos. However the focal with EQ had a comparable if not better soundstage without the veiling effect.

 

[JoePR31]

That’s some really harsh and strange statements. I would consider replacing the unit may be defective… did you consider that?

I completely disagree with Resolve's take on the PX8, but I don't question his methodology. I'm sure it's occurred to him that the pair he tested may not be representative of a typical PX8, and if he's able to get his hands on another PX8, I'm sure he'll test and listen again.

But, I suspect that his poor experience has more to do with the way the PX8's pads and specific angle of the drivers interact with the shape of his ears. They don't work well for him. Unfortunate, but it happens..especially with headphones that are very dependant on fit.

 

[Soundizer]

Oh, I don't mean to suggest that exactly. To my ear the PX8 sounds significantly worse than even some sub $200 ANC headphones, maybe even lower. And I know that may sound scathing, but it's just my honest opinion of it. It's the particular peaks in the treble that make it totally unlistenable to me. I think maybe for folks who aren't bothered by those harmonic imbalances, or for those who have a particular HRTF where this kind of frequency response is more appropriate might find it okay. But for me it's a hard pass because of those issues, and those issues aren't present on the Momentum 4. And if folks here prefer the PX8, please don't let me rain on your parade. This is just one person's opinion, one person's ears, one person's HRTF.

EDIT: and just one other thing. Please don't mistake me for suggesting the Momentum 4 is amazing or putting it on a pedestal here. It's... decent. I would just take the sound of it over the PX8 without hesitation. I would choose the Bathys over both, but that's also because of my particular use case being very suitable to the wired USB DAC mode on the Bathys, and I do find it to be the more 'technical' sounding of the two.

Thank you for describing this. Actually i was considering buying PX8 for my Son, but your point about treble peak is concerning. He has sensitivity to treble, even with Focal Celeste.

However the interesting thing here is these Treble peak’s don’t seem to show up on graphs. Have you seen these peaks on a graph?

 

[jainkjohn]

Another comparison review

 

[jthomp72]

Thank you for describing this. Actually i was considering buying PX8 for my Son, but your point about treble peak is concerning. He has sensitivity to treble, even with Focal Celeste.

However the interesting thing here is these Treble peak’s don’t seem to show up on graphs. Have you seen these peaks on a graph?

You can use the Eq to dial back the treble though. Same as any of them.

 

[nunomeneses]

Px8 was a good buy in my opinion if you could pick it up for the 550 Price Mark. And that's as a whole package. I'm not sure which sub $200 headphones sound better but there is a domain of lower construction quality is headphones such as the shure aonic that might sound better than the PX8.

Ultimately you have to try it yourself to decide. Without knowing which headphones in particular and not having tried the momentum 4 It's hard for me to judge what resolve is saying from personal experience. What I can do is say that at least to my ears the PX8 were a significant improvement over the PX7 to the point that I would consider them enjoyable to listen to though not ideal from the options available

In particular the way in which they create a sense of with and depth sounds very veiled to my ears. This is less severe than the PX7s which I completely stopped using after I heard the moon drop blessing twos. However the focal with EQ had a comparable if not better soundstage without the veiling effect.

Ordered bathys. Will make my comments when they arrive.

 

[Soundizer]

You can use the Eq to dial back the treble though. Same as any of them.

Yes but because its treble it will decrease all the higher frequencies even those that are not irritating. Requires atleast 3 band eq or better still 5,6,7,8.

 

[Soundizer]

These treble peaks might smooth out after a few hours.

 

[ricthaman]

Another comparison review

Was just about to share this one, but you beat me to it.

Nice perspective, and complete review of all 4. One thing I noticed though, is that he's stating not to be an audio guy but at 8:34 I can see a Beyerdynamic and a DCA Aeon in the background

Surprised he liked the APM in the end, didn't see that one coming.

 

[Denkmal]

These treble peaks might smooth out after a few hours.

I find it strange that anyone would have issues with the Px8 treble. It is quite smooth and there is no sibiliance or weird harsh tuning to it. These are not particularly bright headphones and if the treble on these is too much there will be many good headphones that you also cannot use.

 

[JoePR31]

Thank you for describing this. Actually i was considering buying PX8 for my Son, but your point about treble peak is concerning. He has sensitivity to treble, even with Focal Celeste.

However the interesting thing here is these Treble peak’s don’t seem to show up on graphs. Have you seen these peaks on a graph?

Resolve is very experienced and certainly knows what he's talking about, but the extremely negative experience that he had with the PX8 are, in my opinion, a red flag. I think most of the people in this thread who have listened to the PX8 find them to be far superior to $200 ANC headphones. But, if he says that that's what the sound he heard from them corresponds to, then I believe him.

That's what he heard, and the fact that it's so far off from what most others describe the PX8 to sound like tells me that there's likely some psychoacoustic issue at play here between his ears and the PX8. I certainly didn't hear anything in the treble that I found troubling. They're not bright headphones. If anything, I found the treble to be a bit polite.

 

[Soundizer]

Was just about to share this one, but you beat me to it.

Nice perspective, and complete review of all 4. One thing I noticed though, is that he's stating not to be an audio guy but at 8:34 I can see a Beyerdynamic and a DCA Aeon in the background

Surprised he liked the APM in the end, didn't see that one coming.

Nice review

 

[evhvis]

I could wear the PX8 backwards and it would still sound waaaay better than “some sub 200$ ANC headphones”.
But some people even prefer in ear AirPods to the PX8, so what the hell do I know…

Not really that relevant for the question I asked him. More curious about how much variation there is in positioning on a fixed head shape measuring device. Since the measuring device has the same "ears" and shape it would show how much the sound would vary for the headphones by positioning on the same head.

 

[Soundizer]

Resolve is very experienced and certainly knows what he's talking about, but the extremely negative experience that he had with the PX8 are, in my opinion, a red flag. I think most of the people in this thread who have listened to the PX8 find them to be far superior to $200 ANC headphones. But, if he says that that's what the sound he heard from them corresponds to, then I believe him.

That's what he heard, and the fact that it's so far off from what most others describe the PX8 to sound like tells me that there's likely some psychoacoustic issue at play here between his ears and the PX8. I certainly didn't hear anything in the treble that I found troubling. They're not bright headphones. If anything, I found the treble to be a bit polite.

Good points. My situation is the following.
I already own the Bathys and think they are great.

Trying to buy a Birthday gift for my Son. I purchased Bathys for him on Monday and he said they have clamp force on his face, which is odd as he tried my Bathys last week. Typical teenager. I put the Bathys on ebay for only £499 as Shop only does store credit and they cannot get PX8.

Anyway i am now considering buying him the PX8 directly from from Bowers UK website, but don’t want to take a risk of them being too much in the treble.

The moral of this story is don’t have children, or kick em out when Teenagers

 

[mainguy]

Good points. My situation is the following.
I already own the Bathys and think they are great.

Trying to buy a Birthday gift for my Son. I purchased Bathys for him on Monday and he said they have clamp force on his face, which is odd as he tried my Bathys last week. Typical teenager. I put the Bathys on ebay for only £499 as Shop only does store credit and they cannot get PX8.

Anyway i am now considering buying him the PX8 directly from from Bowers UK website, but don’t want to take a risk of them being too much in the treble.

The moral of this story is don’t have children, or kick em out when Teenagers

Just use the B&W 30 day return policy? I can't imagine treble on PX8 being an issue, and you can EQ it down in the app. If he's comfortable with Bathys treble it's highly likely PX8 will be agreeable. Plus that way you can try the B&W headphones and we get to hear another opinion